Foolscap & Quill

@foolscapandquill.bsky.social

http://www.foolscap-quill.com
Publishing fiction & non-fiction books and ebooks worldwide.
Our books are available from Amazon, Ingram, Bookshop.org & many more worldwide.... Ask your local bookseller to order our books.

@authorsguild.orgReposted by @foolscapandquill.bsky.social

The Authors Guild is asking that publishers voluntarily withdraw their claim from books that have been long out of print, regardless of whether there is proof that rights have formally reverted under the contract. Here’s why:

@foolscapandquill.bsky.social

What are your opinions of ebook "bundles?" What do you think when you purchase a "bundle of six books" which turns out to be the length of only 2 paperback books? What about fillers? Ads for other books? Extensive summaries of other stories? Not just a page or two. Should they be disclosed upfront?

@supmktg.bsky.socialReposted by @foolscapandquill.bsky.social

PSA for authors: if a representative of a media organization invites you to be interviewed about your work but requires a "small participation fee," chances are this is not a legit request. Please examine the message closely for signs of phishing; when in doubt, check with us.

@foolscapandquill.bsky.social

"In the 4 vols of her Consulting Detective series - beginning with The Crack in the Lens - Cypser chronicles the early life of Sherlock Holmes while weaving in many of the untold adventures mentions in the Conan Doyle canon," Steve Steinbock, Jury Box, Ellery Queen Mystery Mag. March/April 2025 📚💙

@foolscapandquill.bsky.social

The reporting is full of misinformation. Pneumonic plague is contracted by inhaling it. Do you really think she had no mask on, broke a vial and then proceeded to inhale deeply? Stop inhaling the fearmongering misinformation.

@monicamedhist.bsky.socialReposted by @foolscapandquill.bsky.social

#MedievalSky In case your students this week come in w/ questions about the Russian plague case currently in the news, you can tell them:
1) if this is plague (Yersinia pestis), there is nothing unusual about it (a) being in Russia or (b) being the subject of lab research. Plague is worldwide.

The opening of a 2019 study of the 20th-century Soviet system for controlling plague. Citation: Susan D. Jones, Bakyt Atshabar, Boris V. Schmid, Marlene Zuk, Anna Amramina, and Nils Chr. Stenseth. "Living with Plague: Lessons from the Soviet Union's Antiplague Syste," PNAS 116, no. 19 (6 May 2019), 9155-9163, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817339116. Abstract: Zoonoses, such as plague, are primarily animal diseases that spill over into human populations. While the goal of eradicating such diseases is enticing, historical experience validates abandoning eradication in favor of ecologically based control strategies (which reduce morbidity and mortality to a locally accepted risk level). During the 20th century, one of the most extensive plague-eradication efforts in recorded history was undertaken to enable large-scale changes in land use in the former Soviet Union (including vast areas of central Asia). Despite expending tremendous resources in its attempt to eradicate plague, the Soviet antiplague response gradually abandoned the goal of eradication in favor of plague control linked with developing basic knowledge of plague ecology. Drawing from this experience, we combine new gray-literature sources, historical and recent research, and fieldwork to outline best practices for the control of spillover from zoonoses while minimally disrupting wildlife ecosystems, and we briefly compare the Soviet case with that of endemic plague in the western United States. We argue for the allocation of sufficient resources to maintain ongoing local surveillance, education, and targeted control measures; to incorporate novel technologies selectively; and to use ecological research to inform developing landscape-based models for transmission interruption. We conclude that living with emergent and reemergent zoonotic diseases—switching to control—opens wider possibilities for interrupting spillover while preserving natural ecosystems, encouraging adaptation to local conditions, and usi…
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